June 2025

EIS members will be aware, from the report of the previous meeting of this SNCT Sub Group on Reducing Class Contact Time that COSLA previously gave a presentation on the work of the joint COSLA/Scottish Government working group charged with “scoping” work in relation to the implementation of reducing weekly class contact to 21 hours.

Although initially the indication was that the slides from this presentation would be subsequently shared with Teachers’ Side, COSLA then confirmed on 19 June that it would not in fact be shared after all.

In this context, the expectations of the Teachers’ Side ahead of today’s meeting were low. Nevertheless, Teachers’ Side sought to gain clarity in today’s meeting on a number of significant points. Unfortunately, COSLA and Scottish Government representatives at the meeting failed even to meet these low expectations. 

Prioritisation of workload

At today’s meeting, both COSLA and the Scottish Government confirmed that workload reduction had formed no part of their deliberations in their joint working group thus far. Concerningly, the Scottish Government intimated that they were not supportive of allocating the full 1.5 hours resulting from the promised weekly class contact time reduction, implying that they may wish to see the time split presumably between “preparation and correction” and “collegiate” time within the 35-hour working week. COSLA were unable to confirm any position in relation to this matter.

Given the terms of the formal SNCT dispute on both the lack of implementation of weekly class contact time reduction, and the use of the resulting time, it is extremely disappointing that workload reduction appears to not be the highest priority for either COSLA or the Scottish Government. Both the First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and skills have referenced critical workload concerns in the past, however, it appears that these words are not being met with action in relation to the work being undertaken between the Scottish Government and COSLA.

The Teachers’ Side remain determined that the full reduction needs to be given to teachers as part of their protected time as a first step to tackling the workload crisis.

Failure to meet Cabinet Secretary guarantees

The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills stated clearly in her letter in February (link) that her expectation was that a full report, on the work of the joint COSLA/Scottish Government working group would be presented to SNCT (as well as COSLA Leaders and Ministers) “as soon as possible but by no later than the end of June 2025”. Given the positions of COSLA and the Scottish Government at last week’s meeting, the Teachers’ Side sought clarity on whether the Cabinet Secretary was aware that her The Teachers’ Side sought clarity on whether

Through the course of discussion, it became apparent that the Cabinet Secretary was not aware and as a result, the Teachers’ Side Joint Chair wrote to her today (link) to outline this apparent failure of COSLA and the Scottish Government to adhere both to her expectation and their own joint working group terms of reference.

Disagreements over funding

Despite the Scottish Government stating previously that the commitment to reduce weekly class contact time to 21 hours was fully funded, at the last meeting the Scottish Government were apparently now unable to confirm that funding was indeed in place.

As a result of this, the Teachers’ Side attempted to seek clarity on funding from both COSLA and Scottish Government at today’s meeting.

Despite pressing today, the Teachers’ Side remain in the dark regarding the reality of funding on reducing weekly class contact time. Such a lack of clarity is of significant concern.

Still no plan

COSLA and Scottish Government set out in their terms of reference for their own joint working group, from which Teachers’ Side are excluded, stating that they will develop a route map which includes an underpinning aspiration to implement the 90-minute reduction for primary teachers by August 2026. The Scottish Government restated their commitment on this, and to phase in implementation within secondary, but were unable to offer any further substantive information despite the questioning of the Teachers’ Side, while COSLA stated that they could not comment on this ambition.

Teachers are not powerless – The time for action is now. 

It remains absolutely clear, based upon the continuing approach of both COSLA and the Scottish Government in this latest meeting, that neither is prioritising the reduction of teacher workload in their bi-lateral discussions regarding reducing weekly class contact time to 21 hours. Neither the Scottish Government, nor COSLA, reference workload reduction without prompting by the Teachers’ Side. This only serves to undermine confidence that COSLA or the Scottish Government are meaningfully committed to reducing workload.

As has been seen in past campaigns, the action of EIS members directly impacts on SNCT negotiations. Voting in the consultative ballot on workload is the most important action that you can take right now as an EIS member now.

The strongest possible turnout in the current consultative ballot on workload will strengthen the hand of your negotiators in seeking to secure improvements to terms and conditions that will finally begin to reduce excessive workload for you and your colleagues and lead to more permanent employment for the thousands of teachers currently unable to secure permanent contracts.

If you have voted already, thank you. If you have not voted yet then please vote YES twice to Strike Action and Action Short of Strike!